My Dear Friends,

Our Old Testament reading for today reminds us of the man’s name – “Abraham“,, which means “Father of  many.”

While some surely laughed at this old man and his strange name, that name was, in fact, the promise of God to Abraham. He had one son at the time the Lord spoke to him, but, the Lord promised him that he would have many more, “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.“, Gen. 17:5.

This chapter details that Abraham has two sons. The first, Ishmael, has already left the home (Gen. 21:9-21), and Isaac, the son of promise, who was born when Abraham was 99 years old, is the only one there.

While people may have mocked this man of God, he placed his trust in the Lord. Even though he only had one son, Abraham looked ahead to a time when the Lord would keep His promises! I believe this is what saved Abraham’s soul. Simple faith in God’s Word (Gen. 15:5-6). “And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

This is how salvation worked then, and it is how salvation works today! You hear the promise of God and you accept it by faith!

This is a lesson for us who claim to love God.  Most of us are so busy listening to the call of the world and the flesh that we cannot even hear His voice when He does speak to us!

The question that I would like to ask us is  – what are we living for? Is it wealth? Is it family? Is it job? What has our attention? Do we think that we should be listening for the voice of the Lord? I think so! After all, He is the only voice in the world today that is speaking the truth. He holds the way of salvation for us if you will listen to Him!

What legacy are we leaving behind? Where is our faith?

During this Lenten period we put a lot of things aside and repent in dust and ashes but still another thought arises – what are we going to do with Jesus? Isaac and Abraham trusted the lamb to take Isaac’s place. They offered it, worshiped before the Lord and then came back down the mountain together. Have we come to the place where we are willing to come before the God and trust Jesus as your substitute?

I pray God that we will all put our faith and trust in God because His promises are true. Amen.

                                                  Rev. Pauline Ramsey-Burns

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